Products > Thermal Imaging

FLIR announces the Boson module follow-on to the Tau 2

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willm:

FLIR announced a new thermal imaging module today: the Boson:
http://www.flir.com/home/news/details/?ID=75067

it will be either 320x256 or 640x512 resolution (12 micron pixel pitch) and comes either with or without a mechanical shutter plus one of a selection of lenses.

Most notably, it is integrated with a Movidius 12-core processor for on board image processing.

Small, light, and low power. There's no mention of pricing or timing of availability. It may be that if you have to ask, you can't afford it...

-Bill

encryptededdy:
I'm glad that the Boson can function as a USB Video device / webcam and be controlled over USB, as this makes it so much easier to get digital video from compared to the Tau2. With the Tau2 you couldn't really use it standalone unless you wanted to deal with just a analog video output.

edit: Although I'm surprised it took FLIR this long to come out with a high res 12um core, considering BAE has had a 12um 640x480 core (BAE MicroIR TWV640) for two years now.

Chanc3:

--- Quote from: encryptededdy on April 19, 2016, 03:52:50 am ---I'm glad that the Boson can function as a USB Video device / webcam and be controlled over USB, as this makes it so much easier to get digital video from compared to the Tau2. With the Tau2 you couldn't really use it standalone unless you wanted to deal with just a analog video output.

edit: Although I'm surprised it took FLIR this long to come out with a high res 12um core, considering BAE has had a 12um 640x480 core (BAE MicroIR TWV640) for two years now.

--- End quote ---

Looks like it's not radiometric - certainly cannot find any reference to it!

Ben321:

--- Quote from: willm on April 19, 2016, 01:23:18 am ---
FLIR announced a new thermal imaging module today: the Boson:
http://www.flir.com/home/news/details/?ID=75067

it will be either 320x256 or 640x512 resolution (12 micron pixel pitch) and comes either with or without a mechanical shutter plus one of a selection of lenses.

Most notably, it is integrated with a Movidius 12-core processor for on board image processing.

Small, light, and low power. There's no mention of pricing or timing of availability. It may be that if you have to ask, you can't afford it...

-Bill

--- End quote ---

If we are lucky, it will be just a few hundred $, and be marketed to consumers "the world's first thermal webcam", targeting home users who are big on social media and webcamming. It's possible as it appears to be a USB device that will work with the PC, just like most visible-light webcams. Now right now it appears aimed at the the firefighting industry, but hopefully they will see fit to sell it to 2 markets, with 2 different marketing campaigns, and have it actually be cheap enough that the consumer market would be willing to buy it. Maybe they could even release 2 different EULAs (end user license agreements), one for the home/consumer market forbidding its use in commercial, industrial, or first-responder applications; and one that permits its use in commercial, industrial, and first-responder applications. The one that's sold for consumer use (and matching EULA would be sold for only $150 (making it the first 640x480 thermal imager that FLIR sold that not only was less than $10000, but also less than $1000); while the one sold to the commercial, industrial, and first-responder users (and its matching EULA) would cost $5000 or more. And both versions would have the EXACT same hardware, and NO FIRMWARE CRIPPLING.

Only difference would be the EULA, which would give FLIR the right to sue if a firefighter bought the $150 consumer version, and used it on-duty when rescuing somebody. Many software companies already have different EULAs for different versions of software (home version which is really cheap but can't legally be used outside of hobbyist use, and commercial version which costs 100 times as much, but can be used for any application). If usage specific EULAs can be used with software, they should also be able to be used with hardware.

I HOPE this is how FLIR handles it. Because I'd LOVE to get my hands on a true 640x480 thermal imager, and not have to spend over $10000 on one. Not counting the Boson, currently the cheapest 640x480 thermal imager that FLIR sells is the T420 which costs about $20000 per unit!

Kilrah:

--- Quote from: Ben321 on April 24, 2016, 03:54:56 am ---Not counting the Boson, currently the cheapest 640x480 thermal imager that FLIR sells is the T420 which costs about $20000 per unit!

--- End quote ---
Huh? The Vue Pro, and even the Tau 2 are way below that.
http://www.readymaderc.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=11_62_710&products_id=4503

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